St. Paul daily globe., 1887-10-06
HAMILTON'S TRIAL.
A Shooting Case in Which Considerable
Interest Is Centered.
TOM MoORE'S ASSAILANT.
The Complaining Witness Strips to Show
His Six Wounds Testimony for
the Prosecution.

After young man with bad sQuint
in his eye had been put away" for two
years and half for breaking into IA
freight car and stealing shoes, County
Attorney Davis called the case of State
VS.. Gilbert Hamilton, in the district
court yesterday morning, charged with
assaulting Thomas Moore with a deadly
weapon with intent to kill. ThlS an
nOuncement caused shifting or the
scene about the long table. Tom Moore
came forward smilingly and TOOK his
seat by the side of County Attorney
bert Hamilton, his cOlOred assailant, who
shot him through the body, seated HIM
self in the rear of w. w. Erwin,
the st. Paul criminal attorney,
and Frank M. Nye. All the
jurors were doing duty at the time
and delay of about half an hour Oc-
Cured before panel to draw from
could be secured. The balance of the
forenoon was occupied in efforts to
secure jury and by the time Of the
noon adjournment, eight of the twelve
chairs in the jury box were filled. The
attorney for the defense with the Web
sterian brow and eagle eye seemed to
have prejudice against men who read
newspaper accounts of the shooting,
and prediction for married men. He
also sprang the naturalization qualifi-
cation in two instances and two men
were rejected because their parents. had
not become full citizens before they
were eighteen years of age. His
examinations were generally very
searching and some of the replies elicit
ed considerable amusement. You were
one year old when your father came to
America with you?'' ''No, 1 came with
my father naively responded the candi-
date for jury service" "You must have
made mutual arrangements then" dryly
put in the county attOrney-waS sam
pie of the facetious way the work was
carried ON.
In the afternoon the court room was
well filled with spectators. There were
a score or two OF attorneys inside the
railing who probably came to hear Bill
Erwin try a case, while the gallery was
filled with a collection of white and
cOlOred spectators who constituted a
sort of pepper and salt back ground to
the scene. Mr.. Erwin was evidently in
a mood to hurry up the case somewhat
for he raised fewer objections in his
examination of jurors and the four
needed jurors were secured within
thirty minutes, and at 2;30 o'clock the
witnesses were excluded and the case
began. County Attorney Davis made a
brief explanation of the case. He said
that shortly after midnight July
Thomas Moore, who owns saloon at
PIG Nicollet avenue, and who roomed
across the street, had started to go up
stairs to the Merchants hotel, directly
over his saloon. At the foot of the
stairs he passed woman, and at the
head of the stairs he met the defendant,
Hamilton. A few words and scuffie
enSued between the two, when Moore
kicked Hamilton down stairs. Moore
went into the hotel Office. Hamilton
joined the woman, presumably his wife,
at the bottom of the stairs, and, walking
around the block, came up the Henne-
pin avenue entrance to the Office, where
they passed Moore and went up stairs
to the third floor. Shortly afterwards
they came down. and Hamilton, after
passing Moore again in the hallway.
whirled around and fired three shots
with revolver at Moore, one of which
passed through his body, intiicting a
nearly fatal wound.
Tom Moore took the stand and told
his story in an easy, conversational way.
He said he went to bed about II O'Clock,